Newsroom

March 14 Demonstrations

March 14, 2018

By Christopher J. Steinhauser
Superintendent of Schools

Today our students made their voices heard on the important issue of gun violence in our nation’s schools. Our school staff and student leaders worked hard to provide on-campus activities allowing our students to speak their minds in a safe and supportive environment.

Many of our schools, especially at the middle and high school level, held moments of silence for gun violence victims. Students delivered speeches and provided statistics on gun violence nationally. Others registered to vote. Many wrote letters to Congress, while others sent notes of support to students in Parkland.

Last week our Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution calling for greater efforts nationally and statewide to prevent gun violence. As part of that resolution, our school board promised to listen to students who are speaking out on this issue, and to amplify their voices. Today, we did that.

We have more than 23,000 high school students. The result of our on-campus efforts is that we had no organized off-campus demonstrations by our students this morning, and more than 98 percent of high school students chose to remain on campus. Districtwide, roughly 375 high school students left campus and dispersed peacefully. The remainder of our 74,000 students stayed in school.

We encourage you to check our home page at lbschools.net in the coming hours and days for photos and video of today’s events.

For many of our students, today was an example of living history. We thank everyone who helped to keep our students safe, providing them a learning experience that they will long remember.

UNITED – A March 14 poster at Renaissance High School for the Arts. More photos and video to come.